Sean Payton talks New England Patriots

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; Opening Statement: “We have one roster transaction. We signed Keyunta Dawson and waived Jay Richardson. That happened earlier this week. We just finished our normal day one preparation, first and second down.”
Can you talk about Drew Brees and Tom ...

Opening Statement: “We have one roster transaction. We signed Keyunta Dawson and waived Jay Richardson. That happened earlier this week. We just finished our normal day one preparation, first and second down.”

Can you talk about Drew Brees and Tom Brady?

“I think, obviously both are accomplished. The success that Tom has had there is well documented, noted and through his time and Bill’s (Belichick) time there has been a lot of different pieces, no different than you would say to some degree, Drew has seen different players come and go. They are different in a lot of ways and yet they are competitive and guys that know how to win. They aren’t playing against each other really, they are playing and working with their own teams. Look, it’s a good team we are playing on the road after another road game we just played. They are coming off a tough loss and we are going to have to play one of our best football games. I think our players see that and they understand that.”

Is it rare to see teams 5-0 and 4-1 be at the bottom of red zone offense?

“I think maybe to some degree, yet both teams play good defense, (have solid) time of possession, third down (conversion rate), those are some of the other statistics that we factor in. I would say certainly, both teams want to be better in that area offensively and that is why we are out here practicing.”

Do you get a sense that New England’s head coach and quarterback relationship is like you and Drew Brees’?

“I would really hesitate to make the comparison other than (that) for us we are much earlier in the process. I’ve said this before, when we started in 2006, we tried to look closely at the franchises that were having a lot of success and study closely what they were doing. New England was one of the main ones that we looked at. Of course we were fortunate to sign Drew (Brees) and then build on that and get the right players in place, but these guys have been to five Super Bowls and won three. That is pretty amazing.”

Can you describe what it means to you to have Bill Belichick compliment you on your play-calling abilities?

“We are in different conferences and yet he has been someone that I first got to know at the Pro Bowl in 2006 when we both coached teams there. He has been someone certainly that I look up to. We’ve shared the opportunity to work for a Hall of Fame head coach and so there are probably some things that are similar and yet a lot of things that would be different. When you are young in this league, Bill talked about this all the time, when he had guys like (Tom) Landry, (Joe) Gibbs and (Chuck) Noll, older coaches that not necessarily took him under their wing, but that he could visit with periodically. We’ve had a chance to scrimmage in practice with New England and that opportunity for me to just spend some time with Bill has been always helpful and a positive experience.”

Just one question, why would Payton cut a guy with 117 tackles and 7 sacks in his career for somebody with 1117 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble? Both guys are 6 year vets, and there wasnt much of an upgrade there. Richardson was underutilized due to the depth at his position therefore this move makes no since.